Night Riding (and more power)

It's literally been almost a year since Justin, Luke and I gave up our weekly night ride due to poor trail conditions, multiple motos, and paying a grip every month to ride.

Well, it was time to get back out in the dirt mid-week! I'm still pretty shot from a hard race on Sunday and not letting up on myself all week, but it was a fun ride anyway.







I dig mountain biking with CycleOps power! It's great to have the metrics to track stress and for future reference on wattage output for climbs as well.

Ryan hooked Justin up with a XX spider for Specialized cranks and the 42/29 double chainring setup. Justin installed it on his S-Works HT the night before and wanted to test it out for possibly running it at Bonelli. Hope we get in a pre-ride before the race, though!



Since it was so cold in the waning daylight last night we headed over to "warm up" on Dam Climb and I put in a big effort. The legs felt ok, but I felt like I was climbing with an anchor attached!

Once we hit the singletrack the boys proceeded to do their thing and drop me! My legs were sore, so I just hung back and enjoyed it. We hit the good stuff out there, with a few sections repeated for good measure.

Just like old times...







A bit after it was proper dark Luke headed home, and Justin and I went out for "just one more" short loop. Justin followed me down one singletrack, and my line was off. While I pulled out of a big rain rut, Justin somersaulted and crashed pretty hard. He took it easy on the way back to the truck, and home we went.

Look forward to doing this again that's for sure!

Going long!

I had the unfortunate circumstance of missing out entirely on at least one day of riding this week due to travel problems. Monday was scheduled as an off day due to travel, but then the airlines took Tuesday as well! While I really felt tired on Wednesday, we got out for a fairly easy ride on tired-ish legs at lunch, but were really short on volume for the week.

Sunday I cut our ride short simply because I was over it before it began, and then rode for an hour anyway.

So, instead of our usual hour forty-five or so that we've done after work before, we decided to go for broke and hit a long route! It was a blast. Unfortunately, because I had only been planning on a 1.5-2 hour max ride, all we had was one scoop of mix each. And, that was it.

I'll see you at the top!



Enjoying the weather



So, after we climbed up one small hill, and then a long hill, and then did some rollers... my legs shut down entirely. Mentally I felt good, but the legs had nothin' doing.

We stopped at a market long after the halfway point and got some calories in our systems



Barely made it back in time!



Then we settled in for leftovers - grilled steak and veggie sandwich and chicken breast topped with peach mango salsa. Yum!

Sorry, I know it does look kinda gross close-up. Vegetarians avert your eyes!

Slow week

This week has gone by really slow! I have jam packed a ton of stuff into it, but I can't believe it isn't Saturday already.

Between added volume and gym workouts, this week has been full of exercise! It's been great and I'm feeling good. Sore, but nothing unexpected.

The mercury is rising, so our evening rides have been pretty spectacular.

Tuesday was a chill lunch ride with some guys from work





Last night Justin and I headed to the hills for some easy efforts and steep descents. The headwind was CRAZY! Picture doesn't do it justice.







Gotta love this one! It's more fun to descend than to climb, but I'll admit...I get nervous about being able to stop everytime.





Quiet-ish roads on the way back to town...





Hope to get a few good shots tonight, time permitting.

I'm looking forward to this weekend! Lots of fun riding coming my way. I can't wait.

8 days, and counting

That's right... It's been 8 days since I've ridden indoors on the trainer! Bitchin'. Luke said that once Build starts it's best to get all the riding done OUTside. So, that's what I've been doing. Sometimes life'll get in the way, but I'm planning to keep riding outdoors unless it's really dangerous weather or I just can't manage it any other way.

With the upcoming time change, though, I hope to be able to do some evening rides where I don't have to work super early or super late at night to make up for my time out. So far they've been understanding, but it's tough walking across "campus", getting ready, riding for an hour or so, getting changed back, and walking across campus again. It's like a time suck!

Justin and I hit the intervals pretty hard on Tuesday. I was left drooling on the top tube more than once doing 5-9 minute V02 max intervals. I made sure to get in better and longer recovery periods than I had the week before.



Weather was nice enough (after our massive heat wave last weekend) to ride in shorts!



Wednesday was a jaunt up the other local hill for some steady Sweet Spot Tempo and shorter recoveries (only on the descents where the HR drops anyway). We did a few power jumps and sprints. Felt totally worked at the end.

I've been eating a ton, and enjoyed an evening out (complete with a Fat Tire and loads of focaccia bread). I had plenty of chicken and rice leftover for lunch on Thursday (one whole chicken breast and about a cup of white/Jasmine? rice). Thought my nutrition was spot on all week.

I constantly WANT to eat, whether I am hungry or not. Not really sure what to do about that. I'll eat a big lunch and then be checking the clock 5 mins later to see if it's time to eat again (going 2.5-3 hours between meals/snacks). I'm literally not remotely hungry, I just want to be eating.

So, Thursday I snacked and had my decent lunch and tried to sit and be ready to hit the hills last night offroad. I'm getting excited since there's more and more daylight everyday. Next week we should be able to get in about 1.5 hours without even needing the lights. Made it about 50 minutes last night before I turned mine on. It's killer being able to ride in the waning daylight.

It was fairly chilly last night (high 50s when we took off), but the sunlight is great.



Sorry, Matt, more Wiens-style jerseys are in my closet now :)

















Luke peeled off just before sunset as his quest for the evening was complete.

It wasn't too long after that I started to feel like crap. I felt like I couldn't see anything. Eventually I realized it wasn't a vision issue, it was a concentration issue. I couldn't focus on anything. The trail features were like 1D. Then I started to have a breakdown mentally. Just got super emotional for no reason and couldn't put out any power. I stopped, and shaking, grabbed for my gel flask and finished my water. I was only about an hour ten or so into the ride. I'd had a massive gel shot before taking off, and cereal and an apple 2 hours before the ride. I'd hydrated well all day. So, it didn't occur to me until it was too late that I was quite possibly mid-bonk. Ridiculous, because I'd felt REALLY strong the entire ride up until that point. I was putting power down, middle-ringing up steeps I'd never made in the middle ring before, and charging the descents. I was mentally feeling good, physically feeling great. The boys beat me up the hills, but I still felt really good.

I finally told Justin I had to call the ride. I did about another 15 or so minutes of Z1 spinning, and was really freaking cold. Temps had been dropping apparently. Once back to the truck I downed my post-ride EAS shake and some water, and felt a little better. I made us a pretty big salad when we got home, and we had some left over pasta with olive oil and lentils mixed in. YUM. Then I got to business making lunch, and figured I'd enjoy some dark chocolate while I was at it.

Oh no you di'int...



Oh yeah. I did.



It was damn good, too.

Today I did a regen spin. It was windy as all get out. Weather says wind gust is 5.1MPH? Pshaw. Other local stations are reporting anything from 13-20 MPH gusts. That's more like it. Made concentrating on the spinning a little difficult. Also, I kept wanting to get up and GO. Reigned it in since I've got plenty of GO planned for this coming weekend!

Parting thoughts for the weekend... tomorrow is the annual event which has basically consumed my fall/winter for the past 2 years. I spent November 2006 to March 2007 training for the little giant, and November 2007 to March 2008 training for its big brother. I got my feathers both times, despite a bit of hardships early on. I don't remotely regret not signing up this year. I set my personal record on the course over a month ago, and that's all that mattered to me.

However, I do wish my buds the best of luck out there tomorrow and hope that I make it out to cheer them on in some of the lower points of the race. Actually, I'll be up midway up the "mountain" so it will technically not be a low point! :)

Make sure to check out their blogs next week for full reports (hope I'm not missing anyone!):

Luke
James
Slater
Monique
Ryan
Jordan

TGIF!!

Mid-weekery

When I got up Tuesday morning - it was cold out. Cold for the area, anyway. After 4+ days of solid drizzle there was a nice layer of winter frost on everything…and unlike the norm - it was still there hours later on anything that wasn't in direct sunlight!



Also got my latest weight weenie addition later that night and shaved another 57g from the bike! Not earth shattering, I know.



The week has basically been spent trying to kill my legs. It's going well so far, at least as far as I can tell. Tuesday I felt spectactular. It was a fairly great day to be outside. After 5 days of drizzle the sun was shining. It was somewhat windy and temps were cold for the area, but it was one of those days I was wishing I could ride for 5 hours instead of just 1. I was done with my intervals and on the flats on the way back to work just feeling like a million bucks. One of those days where the pedals are turning effortlessly and you're wondering if you're really turning that gear?

Wednesday was a bit warmer, and I had some harder efforts to put out (well, a smidge easier, but also longer).



Heading up there



The pro's will soon be heading up (the other side) there



I basically killed myself doing AE intervals on the first hill and my legs haven't been the same since!

Wish the snow capped peaks would've come out more clear



New Nema gloves (for mountain biking, but they worked to keep my hands toastier on a cool-ish day)



For the most part I did the remaining intervals (I went too early on one hill, or rather… went too hard too early - and had to sit up) successfully, and hit one last 5-6 minute climb spot on, and I felt good doing it.

The ride past In & Out was almost painful! It smelled sooo good. I've held off for almost 5 years now, not giving in any time soon!



I kept riding toward my monster of a PB&J awaiting me



Legs were totally worked the rest of the day, but I tried to hydrate and "rest".

They're definitely "sore" today (way more than they have been during the week in months), but I think I can hit my tempo ride tonight spot-on and be able to call my weekday workouts successful for this week. STOKED!

What I'm not stoked on is the forecast. The mountain biking gods are really testing my dedication this month! I've got a tentative ride plan for this weekend that I think will work either way. It isn't going to be much fun doing a 3.5 hour road ride soaking wet, but that's life!

Probably won't get many photos, so enjoy them while they last!